


From a bitter betty to spaghetti

by GendryGetsPegged



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Benefits, GYM AU BITCHES, I wouldn't say it's a slow burn as such as they pretty much make it known they want to bang, but like it ain't a fast track hanky panky rodeo either, but such is life, cue Olivia Newton Jon's physical ;), no it's not pokemon gym, they got issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 05:35:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GendryGetsPegged/pseuds/GendryGetsPegged
Summary: I didn't know what to title this so unfortunately it sounds like a five year old came up with it on the bright side you'll remember the title because it's bad.(A Gendry fic because my bull never gets the POV he deserves)Gendry at 22 returns from war trying to figure out his new place in the world.Picking up the pieces of the life of before and after is difficult but perhaps a bright energetic tiny woman with a heart of a wolf could help him find his way.....





	From a bitter betty to spaghetti

Fleabottom Gym was the only place in all of King’s Landing that ever remotely felt like home for Gendry Waters. No place was permanent. At 18 he had a choice to make with little to no income to reach out to his half-siblings and not enough education to get a decent job he made a decision to enlist. The income was decent very little tax and he was big and strong for his age something the recruitment officers seemed to like. It was an easy choice to make for himself.

Now he stands in King’s Landing years later carrying a duffle bag of emotional turmoil with him. His dog tags chinking against his chest. What the hell does he do now? And who is he now? He served five years he’s seen the world fought in Essos, High Garden he’s seen war. And even now standing in a supermarket staring at cheap generic noodles deciding what to eat in his barely lit apartment it’s seeped into his bones.Screaming.Children crying. Bones jutting out of sockets. Limbs of comrades halfway across fields. Blood so much blood. Gendry Waters learned many things from the army but he has yet to figure out how to sleep without those images and without those noises.

Perhaps it’s nostalgia in who he was before that has him circling back to the small shack of a gym the next day. He was an orphan foster kid just looking for one place that was permanent in all the shuffling and found it in a gym of all places. Tobho Mott is a decent man he took to Gendry early on before he became a big brute. A thin frail man with little to no hair on his head you’d think it was odd for him to be a gym owner, not a ruffian sort just quiet. He can’t help but smile to himself when he goes to open the door and the loud groan creaks slowly allowing itself to be moved. It hadn’t changed a bit still smelt of sweat, bleach and lemons a strong odour not meant for the socialites of King’s Landing with a credit card and chauffeur.No Fleabottom’s dark bricks that peaked out from worn paint was for the people who could barely afford their rent for the month or like him just needed a place to go. A shithole that was theirs. He follows the floorboards to the destination he wants to go to. Leaning against the door crossing his arms and smiling to himself he spots his intended target. Tobho’s squinting at a pile of paperwork with three pairs of glasses each on top of one another. It’s a hopeless endeavour, of course, each pair catches in the other making it impossible for him to concentrate. Stupid git.

“You know it doesn’t cost that much to fix that shitty door?”

A chuckle escapes Tobho. He slowly takes off each pair wanting to take the sight of the man in front of him. More muscles jutting out of his vest then when he left his raven hair passing his forehead a change to the buzzcut Tobho gave him. Despite a calm demeanour, he can tell Tobho’s missed him.

“But then how can I pay to fix your shitty moods? I’m sure the army drilled away whatever character you had left in that small brain of yours"

“Perhaps but still got more hair than you old man”.

This prompts Tobho to shoot up out of his chair. If he had fewer brain cells he’d of expected a thump but knowing the man since he was 7 he’s smarter. He yanks Gendry’s arms out of chest eyebrows raised.

“Let me have a look at you. Still got all your limbs boy?”

“Got called Bull in barracks I was the only one in my platoon who left the place with all ten fingers and toes”

Oh. He can see the concern riddled on Tobho’s face he was a better man than most and sensing his pain hurts Gendry quickly switches to a grin and a look of pride that makes him feel warm inside.

“Well, don’t just stand idle then since you have all your fingers and toes help me sort out this bloody paperwork. I know the sneaky fuck Varys sends me small print on purpose but your eyes can read the words for me”.

 

 

It quickly turns into a routine every morning he'd walk over to Fleabottom and help Tobho with the paperwork it beat staring at the ugly creme walls of his apartment all day.During the rest of his hours he'd tinker about with the many broken and damaged products no one had realised was even broken.Or maybe Tobho did know his fingers were different from what he remembered cradling an enclosed position most of the day. He knows for a fact there is a running machine in the corner that has yet to work in years he'll be damned if he lets that stubborn crone win. Gendry could fix clunky machines lessen the creak of the doors but still at night he can't escape the things he couldn't fix.

 

The one draw of Fleabottom is knowing many of the regulars there's a unspoken agreement you don't have to offer more than a nod or grunt of acknowledgement.Yoren other than Mott was perhaps the only person he socialised with past those doors.He can't say knowing Yoren didn't help shape him into the man he is today.When he was 15 Yoren took him to horse racing got shitfaced after losing £300 on a horse called spiders arse and proceeded to sing god save the queen whilst being lumbered home.He also gave him his first beer then proceeded to start a fight in a bar based on the fact that no one actually wanted to fight him.Never a dull moment with Yoren but his uncontrolled chaos was the kind that left you completely depleted of energy. Unfortunately the memo didn't reach the newer customers he had hoped a quick flex and a hard stare could deflect the two teenage boys.No such luck.

"Oi, haven't seen you around here before.I'm Hot Pie and you are-

"Busy"

The shorter stick thin boy with blonde locks quickly stands by the other boys side chest puffing out as if somehow Gendry twice the size of him couldn't chuck him around like a rag doll.

"We're just trying to make conversation"

"Make it with someone who wants to then"

 

It's a running joke that despite spending hours fixing the bloody thing no one wanted to risk fate by running on the machine.Not even Yoren or the two teenaged brats want to touch the thing.It changes on a Thursday.He's running numbers with Tobho when he spots it.Someone's finally using the running machine.Maybe Yoren got too shitfaced or Hot Pie dared Lommy. To his surprise it's none of them it's someone he's never spotted in the gym before.Her hairs messy the hairs fought itself in the bun just hastily hanging off whatever strands they can cling to.A tattoo of a thin sword adorns her neck.There's wording on the tattoo Valar-

 _"Valar dohaeris_ " PHWACK.Stupid clipboard hits the ground and he has to pick it up quickly before it seems like he dropped the thing because she caught him staring  even though she was looking at the wall the whole time? He closes his eyes and breathes trying to get it back in his grasp it slips through again.Her hand reaches to help steady his shaking hands.

"What does it mean? Valar dohaeris?".He wants to look up and stares at the girl who changed a Thursday but he's also been a complete disaster so the ground seems like a good spot to just conveniently stare at until she's gone.

"All men must serve.Who know it better than you soldier boy".

With that he can't help but follow his eyes from her hands up to her face .The woman's face is long but soft her eyebrows are thick and her grey eyes stare at his own sparkling in  amusement with a smile that matches.

 FUCK.

 


End file.
